Uncharted: Pharaoh's Hourglass
by Claudia McKnight
Summary: An innocent Egyptian vacation turns into an adventure when Nate discovers a strange artifact. Old flames will be reunited and a new one might go out for good. Will Nate's inability to deny adventure end up costing him more than he could possibly imagine?
1. Temptation

"Nate!" Elena groaned as he pulled her into yet another market full of Egyptian knick-knacks and curios. "I thought this trip was supposed to be about us, remember? No danger and no treasure hunting."

"And it is," Nate insisted receiving a look. "This is the last market, I promise. After this we'll go to the Natural History Museum or the Sphinx or any where you want, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she said rolling her eyes and following after him.

As much as it annoyed her that she couldn't drag him away from the markets he was amusing to watch. He scowered every market looking for that one perfect artifact to add to his collection. His eyes were so lit up with excitement they were practically glowing and the air around him was filled by this infectious energy. She couldn't help but get swept away with him. It was easy to understand his fascination, she was fascinated too. Egypt was rich in centuries of history and culture. It would be so easy to get lost in this place, to be swept away by its tales of ancient mystery and intrigue. But they'd both promised, no business and no treasure hunting. If it wasn't for that promise she'd be going camera crazy by now.

"Hey, Elena, come over here and look at this," Nate called back at her.

Turning away from the various semi-precious gem encrusted hand mirrors she'd been admiring she walked over to Nate. He was holding a four posted midsize hourglass made of bronze. The frame had been tooled with dozens of hieroglyphics. It was a beautiful piece but it was flawed. The glass lacked any sand and there was a decent sized gap between the upper and lower bulbs.

"It's nice, Nate. But look," she said wiggling her finger in the gap. "It's broken. There's a piece missing or something. It won't even hold sand."

"I know," Nate said frowning. "There's just something about it though, something special."

"Oh, no," Elena said pushing the hourglass down so he'd look at her. "No treasure hunting, remember? You promised."

"You're probably right," Nate said setting the hourglass back down on the table.

"Ah, you have a keen eye, sir," the owner of the table said coming over.

"What?"

"That piece you were holding, it is very rare," he said picking it up. "This is known as the Pharaoh's Hourglass. According to legend every pharaoh had one. The hourglasses had the power to give its wielder a second chance, one chance to turn back time and correct a fatal mistake, their one biggest regret. Many hourglasses have been recovered throughout the years, this one in particular is from a later period, but the center piece, the crucial piece that makes the hourglasses work, has never been found. It is said that collectors and treasure hunters still to this day search for the piece in hopes of unlocking the secrets of the hourglass."

Nate watched the merchant place the hourglass back on the table.

"Well, it's a good story, I'll admit," Nate said rubbing his chin, "but that's all it is, a story."

"Believe what you will," the merchant said. "It doesn't change the fact that this is a very rare artifact sought after by many collectors."

Elena saw the hungry gleam in Nate's eyes. It didn't matter whether the merchant was spinning a tale or not, that hourglass had a story and a good one too. He wanted it, he wanted it bad. Grabbing his arm she dragged him aside.

"You don't really believe that guy, do you?" she asked trying to pull him back down off his find high. "Honestly, if that hourglass really was a rare artifact he wouldn't be hawking it to tourists in a street market."

"Take a look around, Elena," Nate said. "We are we out of tourist territory. Sometimes you have to be willing to take a chance; you never know where it might take you."

Elena smirked at the truth in his words. Three and a half years ago she'd taken a chance on this guy from the Keys claiming he knew the location of the Sir Francis Drake's coffin. She hadn't been able to get rid of him since.

"Fine," she said throwing her hands up. "You want to get it, get it. But don't blame me when it turns out to be a piece of junk."

He didn't hear her mutter the last statement because he was already walking away. Elena just watched as he haggled with the merchant. After a few minutes they settled on a price and he forked over the agreed amount of bills. Prize in hand he walked back to her a smug look on his face.

"Happy now?" she asked hip cocked.

"Yes," he answered slinging an arm over her shoulder.

They began weaving their way back through the stalls the bright desert sun shining down on them through the numerous rooftops and canopies. The dusty market was filled with shoppers and a chaotic symphony of smells and sounds roared around them. In its own way the market was beautiful with a sort of harmonic serenity. Elena loved every bit of it. For the first time she and Nate were managing to enjoy the exotic location without having to worry about being shot at or saving the world from some power crazy psychopath.

"I'm glad I let you talk me into this trip," she said lacing her arm around the small of Nate's back. "It's nice."

"What is?" he asked sensing there was more to the sentiment.

"Oh, I don't know, you not getting shot at," she ribbed.

"How many times do I have to tell you, they're shooting at you too, y'know!"

Elena laughed hugging Nate's side and staggering out of step. He was so easy to get riled up. Turning his head away he feigned pouting while she smirked at him. He was playing at his old gambit again and she wasn't going to fall for it.

"So do you think it's true?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Do I think what's true?"

"The story about the hourglass. The missing piece and…"

"No," she cut him off. "Uhn-uh. Don't you dare go getting all wrapped up in that story on me. This trip is strictly us, remember? No treasure hunting."

"I know," he said. "I'm just… curious."

"Well, I honestly can't tell you," she said after a moment. "The skeptic in me would say it's just a bedtime story but some part of me wasn't to believe in the fantastic. After all I used to think El Dorado and Shambhala where just stories too; you've proved me wrong on both occasions. So who knows?"

"You're right," Nate said. "It's almost impossible to tell. And the chances of finding the missing piece without some sort of hint or clue are nearly non-existent. Unless, of course, the hieroglyphics on the outside mean something. It wouldn't be much but it's a start and from there…"

"Nate," Elena warned.

"Sorry."

She shook her head as he continued to study the hourglass. He was positively incorrigible. She watched his eyes work over the tooling as if trying to decipher some meaning out of the pictures. He was studying it so intently he seemed to have forgotten she was there entirely. Sighing she slid out from under his arm and hopped around in front of him. She pulled him forward by one hand and swung it back and forth to get his attention. Finally he looked up at her.

"Well let's say you did find the piece and got the hourglass to work, what then? Would you use it? Is there really something so terrible, something you regret so much you'd want to go back and change it?"

Nate glanced from the hourglass to Elena pondering for a moment.

"I've made some mistakes…"

"Some?"

"Okay, a lot of mistakes," he grinned shaking his head at her. "But when I look back on my life I don't regret a minute of it."


	2. Hidden in Bronze

Rolling up his sleeves, Nate ran his fingers over the tooled bronze of the hourglass. The intricate grooves tickled the pads of his fingers. Distantly he could hear the shower running and seemed to remember Elena telling him something about getting dressed for dinner. Whatever it had been was long buried under his more pressing thoughts about the hourglass.

His brow wrinkled and he rubbed a hand across his stubble crusted chin. He wished he knew how to read the glyphs, that they could give hint to solving the hourglass's mystery. Unfortunately his recent exploits had kept him far away from this part of the world and his knowledge of Egyptology had gotten a bit rusty.

"What's your secret, huh?" he asked.

He dug into his back pocket and pulled out the small leather bound journal safely tucked inside. Slapping it down on the table he flipped open to the next blank page and began sketching the hourglass on the slightly yellowed paper. Within seconds the hourglass's recognizable contours appeared on the page. Gaining speed his pen danced against the drawing adding in the all the necessary details. He compared the image to the original with a satisfied smirk. Finally he took a moment to jot down larger sketches of some of the markings as well as a few quirky observations that riddled the pages of his journals.

Nate slowly let the pen come to rest against the surface of the page and leaned back thoughtfully in his chair. His eyes slowly wandered over the hourglass taking in every little last detail and committing it to memory. He stared at it until his vision started to go blurry. With a few rapid blinks he shook his head refocusing his vision. Suddenly he noticed something. Leaning forward he picked up the pen and studied the bases. He chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his lip trying to decide whether it was a play of the light or if one of the bases really was larger than the other.

"I wonder…" he mused, picking up the glass.

He slowly ran his hands over the seemingly larger base when suddenly a soft clicking noise met his ears as some of the glyphs gave way. Just to be certain he ran his fingers over them again.

"What the…"

He quickly turned the hourglass over in his hands and looked at the suspected section. Sure enough, there they were, four square buttons centered on the panel each embossed with a different hieroglyph. Retrieving his pen he copied the buttons onto the page adjacent to the sketch of the hourglass hand working as quickly and accurately as possible. Finishing he looked back at the buttons.

"Combination," Nate muttered to himself. "I need a combination."

He looked over the glass again searching for hint as to what the combination might be. He could barely find any matches to the glyphs anywhere on the frame and if he did happen to find one it was nowhere near adjacent to the others. As far as he could tell there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the glyphs.

"Guess I'm doing this the hard way," he said lowly. "Like that's a surprise."

Numbering the buttons he began trying combinations by process of elimination. He systematically worked through every possible combination one by one. Soon the journal page was littered with four digit combinations each on scratched out with increasingly frustrated lines. None of the combinations were working. Dropping the pen Nate rocked back in his chair and rubbed his hands across his face.

"Well this is just impossible," he sighed.

Frustrated he stabbed the butt of his pen at the buttons. Suddenly the mechanism responded and the bottom panel popped open. Nate lurched forward in his chair and snatched the hourglass before it toppled off the table. He turned it over and looked at the open panel.

"Well I'll be damned," he grinned chuckling. Picking up the pen he wrote another number at the end of his last combination and circled it, "Four buttons, five digit combination. Well they certainly weren't going to make it easy for me."

Nate carefully pried a finger under the panel and slowly pulled it open. The ancient hinges squeaked causing his ears to ring just enough to be bothersome. Beneath the panel was a small hollow compartment covered in hieroglyphs just like the hourglass's exterior. Cautiously he reached into the hollow and caught the piece of papyrus lying at the bottom between his pointer and middle fingers. He delicately removed it and set the hourglass aside. Taking a deep breath he slowly unfolded the fragile paper.

"Whoa…"

Elena looked in the mirror and fluffed her freshly blow-dried hair. Over the past few years it had grown a bit longer than she was accustomed to wearing it but every time she even thought about getting it cut she was being whisked away to somewhere foreign and exciting or some new disaster was breathing down her neck. Sighing she lashed it back into her normal ponytail then consulted her reflection again.

"Presentable enough," she deemed after taming a few loose hairs and smoothing out the wrinkles in her shirt.

Beyond the bathroom door the suite's main room waited. The room's desert color scheme greeted her with soft browns and oranges warmed by the afternoon glow filtering in through the many windows. Just past the panes of glass and billowy white curtains Cairo stretched out as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately Elena's eye fell on something much closer and far more distressing. Sitting at the desk in the same dusty shirt and dirty jeans he'd been wearing all day was Nate, exactly where she'd left him.

"Nate!" she said voice thick with aggravation.

He jumped nearly dropped the sheet of paper he was holding so gingerly and spun around. Crossing her arms she raised an eyebrow at him and tapped her foot impatiently. His eyes went wide as he looked down at his rather disappointing outfit and an embarrassed tinge colored his cheeks.

"I… uh…" he stammered. "Crap."

His head fell forward shoulders sinking. He had no excuses for his flakiness.

"I thought you were getting ready," she accused.

"I was," Nate defended. "But I got a little… well, distracted."

"Of course you did," Elena muttered rolling her eyes.

"But," he continued, "I found something."

Her arms unfolded, "What?"

"Yeah, c'mere."

Elena's eyes lit up and a mischievous grin curled on her lips. Turning she dashed to her suitcase and dug a hand down into one of the corners. After digging passed layers of clothing her fingers closed around a small digital camera. Nate, noticing a certain blonde presence was lingering over his shoulder turned back around.

"What are you doing?" he asked

"Getting my camera," she answered.

"I thought we said no cameras," he protested.

"We also said no treasure hunting," Elena countered pointedly pulling the camera out of its travel bag.

"Fair enough."

Nate turned around din his chair and carefully flattened out the papyrus against the wooden surface. Behind him a chime sounded signaling that the camera was awake. He couldn't help but roll his eyes as he heard the shudder focus. Shaking his head he pulled the lamp closer to cast more light on the paper.

"Whoa…" Elena breathed leaning closer. "What is that?"

"It's the piece of papyrus I found in the base of the hourglass," Nate answered pointing.

Elena panned her camera to the hourglass and back again, "What's it say?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I can't actually read Egyptian hieroglyphs… but I know someone who can."

Nate jumped out of his chair and hurried across the room. Elena followed keeping the camera trained on him. He grabbed his cell phone off the bedside table and began scrolling through his contacts. Finally he selected one and held the phone to his ear.

"Nate, what's going on?" Elena asked but he didn't answer. "Nate?"

He was too busy listening to the phone ring.

"Hello?" a voice finally answered.

"Daniel?" Nate asked.

"Who's Daniel?" Elena whispered.

"An old friend, we worked together back in the day," he answered then held a finger to his lips.

"Yes, who is this?" Daniel answered suspiciously.

"Dan, it's Nate… Nathan Drake."

There was a pause on the other end.

"Nathan Drake? I haven't heard from you in years," he answered excitedly but then his voice shifted. "What's the occasion?"

"Occasion?" Nate laughed. "Do I need an occasion to call up an old friend?"

An unamused silence answered.

"Fine," Nate admitted. "I need a favor."

"Of course you do," he sighed. "What is it this time? Money? Bailed out of jail? What?"

"No," Nate answered hastily. "And I'm glad you think so highly of me."

"Considering your record…" Dan muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he covered hastily. "So what is it then?"

"I need you to translate something."

"Oh," he said voice rising. "That is surprisingly less taxing than I expected. What is it?"

"Just some glyphs on an hourglass and an old piece of papyrus," Nate answered. "Egyptian, your specialty."

"Oh, branching out, are we?" he teased.

"You could say that."

"So, what is it?" he asked. "What are you sending me?"

"Sending you? I'm not sending you anything."

"Well then how do you suggest I translate it?" Daniel demanded.

"I figured you'd like to see it yourself."

"Yes, I would, but wouldn't that take a bit long for your taste?"

"It would if I didn't already happen to be in Cairo," Nate smirked.

"What are you doing in Cairo?"

"I'm on vacation…"

"Sounds like it."

"And I found something," Nate continued. "But Egypt happens to be a bit out of my specialty range so I figured I'd call the best Egyptographer I know."

Daniel groaned, "Save the flattery for your girlfriend, I'll do it. You can bring whatever it is over tomorrow morning."

"Great," Nate said. "Where are you at?"

He hurried over to his journal and quickly jotted down the address that Daniel dictated to him.

"Fantastic, thanks," Nate said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Daniel sighed.

Nate ended the call and placed his phone on the desk. He was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Well?" Elena asked urgently.

He grinned, "Looks like we're going to see an old friend."


End file.
